Will Depp Become Dillinger?

Before the strike, Johnny Depp had a pretty sweet schedule set. From the bloody steps of Sweeney Todd, he'd jump into Shantaram -- the strange story of a Aussie heroin addict who flees to India and becomes a doctor in the slums, then somehow finds himself being a counterfeiter, smuggler, and gunrunner, before heading to Afghanistan and battling Russians, as we all come to do. However, the script needed some work, and with writers striking, the project had to be delayed. After that, he was planning to one again take on Hunter S. Thompson in The Rum Diary, which would be all sorts of great, but again, it's been delayed.

So, Depp's schedule is wide open, and The Hollywood Reporter has posted that he just might fill it with a passion project stewing with Michael Mann -- giving the actor an entirely different type of violence. The filmmaker has been interested in bringing Bryan Burrough's nonfiction work Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 to the big screen. Previous plans had Leonardo DiCaprio attached, but he's headed for the Island, so the coast is clear. Since Mann is also free (he won't commit to Edwin A. Salt), this could be the time to make it happen. They're reportedly going to meet this week to discuss the possibility of bringing the production together this March, with Depp looking at playing famous robber John Dillinger.

The book follows the crime wave that came about during the Depression, sporting all the famous names we know today -- Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and so on. Beyond traversing the bloody waves of these crime figures, the book details how good ol' J. Edgar Hoover molded the FBI into what it is today. Is Depp a good fit? And who would you nab to portray the other epic names?